Emotions in Times of Pandemic Crisis among Italian Children: A Systematic Review

Aurora Bonvino, Antonella Calvio, Roberta Stallone, Chiara Valeria Marinelli, Tiziana Quarto, Annamaria Petito, Paola Palladino and Lucia Monacis ()
Additional contact information
Aurora Bonvino: Department of Humanities, University of Foggia, 71121 Foggia, Italy
Antonella Calvio: Department of Humanities, University of Foggia, 71121 Foggia, Italy
Roberta Stallone: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Foggia, 71121 Foggia, Italy
Chiara Valeria Marinelli: Department of Humanities, University of Foggia, 71121 Foggia, Italy
Tiziana Quarto: Department of Humanities, University of Foggia, 71121 Foggia, Italy
Annamaria Petito: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Foggia, 71121 Foggia, Italy
Paola Palladino: Department of Humanities, University of Foggia, 71121 Foggia, Italy
Lucia Monacis: Department of Humanities, University of Foggia, 71121 Foggia, Italy

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 12, 1-34

Abstract: Several studies underlined the negative effects of forced social isolation on emotional processes in younger population. The current study aimed to review existing evidence of the pandemic’s impact on the emotional regulation of Italian children aged 0–12 years in order to identify personal and contextual factors that may adversely impact their developmental process. Different electronic databases (Web of Science, APA PsycInfo, APA PsycArticles, MEDLINE, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, and Scopus) were used to identify peer-reviewed studies published in English and Italian. Thirteen studies were included in the review, covering a total of 18.843 children. All studies reported negative effects of the lockdown on a child’s emotional processes. The most affected were children aged 3–5 years, those living in Northern Italy, and those with low socioeconomic status (SES) families. Alterations in emotional processes were associated with sleep disturbances, quality of family relationships, personality structures, the coping strategies used, and time spent with technological devices. Finally, two- (time × parenting) and three-way (time × parenting × environmental sensitivity) interactions resulted significantly in predicting a child’s emotional regulation, respectively, in terms of externalizing and internalizing behaviors. This review remarks that children’s emotional processes were negatively impacted during social lockdown, especially where acute social isolation interacted with a set of dispositional and situational risk factors.

Keywords: emotion; children; Italy; lockdown; social isolation; risk factors; systematic review (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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